http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/24/dining/24WASH.html?scp=2&sq=turkey%20rinse&st=cse
This is a NY Times article that says you don’t have to.
I hate doing it, so this year I won’t.
It was interesting that the end mentions Julia Child was an avid rinser, and debated the point.
I don’t mind whatever is in there. I plan on unwrapping it and salting it and buttering it up.
It sounds to me, though, like most Dopers brine their turkeys. Do you rinse before brining? Seems like that would be unnecessary.
BTW, I don’t brine. I believe in Low & Slow, and I don’t like the salty meat taste.
I’m eating elsewhere this year so I don’t have a turkey brining. I never had a problem with the salty taste. For one thing, I use kosher salt and I find it hard to oversalt with it. Theory: too much ordinary table salt ruins things because of the iodine, which kosher salt doesn’t have (or at least the stuff I’ve used). The other is that I rinse off the bird. But I like it a little salty, so YMMV.
I add other things to AB’s recipe, like some wine and some liquid smoke. I lurrrrv the way the turkey only cooks in a couple hours, comes out very juicy. I wonder if you could “pickle” the turkey in wine and achieve a similar result. Hmm.
BTW I always wash chicken too. However, I always skin the chicken so it’s not difficult. There was a 60 minutes or news type show where they toured the facility. Spoilering this for the squeamish:
An automated ‘hand’ reaches up into the chicken to pull out the guts. The intestines and what not are often ruptured and spill fecal matter etc. Then the chickens are “washed” in water…but there’s so much goo in there that it’s uber nasty. Uh, yeah, wash that chicken first.
Is that what the kids are calling it now?